Group Pushing to Undo Term Limits Extension in Arkansas

Current Events, ,

You may have seen recent news about a group in Arkansas working to repeal the term limits extension measure voters passed last November.

In a nutshell, the proposal would limit lawmakers to no more than three two-year terms in the Arkansas House of Representatives and two four-year terms in the Arkansas Senate, with no lawmaker permitted to serve more than ten years total.

We wrote about the new term limits amendment last November, after it was passed into law. To summarize, under the new term limits system, lawmakers may serve up to 16 years in the Arkansas General Assembly (House and Senate).

If the lawmaker’s sixteenth year in office happens to fall in the middle of his or her term, the lawmaker is allowed to finish the term; this means many lawmakers may actually serve up to 18 years in office.

Additionally, the new term limits system includes special exemptions for time in office as the result of a special election or an assignment resulting from redistricting. It’s a little complicated, but suffice it to say because of these exemptions, a state legislator could serve as many as 20 – 22 years in office under the right circumstances.

To be fair, most lawmakers will probably only serve 16 years in the legislature; but many will serve 18 years, and a few will get 20 – 22 years in office.

You can read more about Arkansas’ current term limits system here.

You can read more about the proposed changes to the term limits system here and here.

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The Magna Carta and Religious Liberty

Current Events, History, , ,

Today is the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta–considered by many to be the founding document of the concept of the rule of law. But an important aspect of the document’s history is being overlooked: The role the church played in its drafting.

Writing at Breakpoint, Eric Metaxas says,

“With the disagreement threatening to turn into a civil war, the Archbishop of Canterbury, working as an intermediary between the King [of England] and the barons, helped to draft a proposed charter that would settle the dispute. . . .

“Since then, virtually every opponent of despotism and tyranny in the English-speaking world has drawn inspiration from the Magna Carta, which declared, ‘To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay, right or justice.’ When the Founding Fathers complained about ‘taxation without representation,’ they were appealing to the Magna Carta.”

Listen to Metaxas’ full commentary below to learn more about this document and what it has to do with liberty today.

[audio:http://www.breakpoint.org/images/content/breakpoint/audio/2015/061515_BP.mp3]

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Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. Policy to “Serve All Girls”

2 CommentsCurrent Events, ,

The following blog post is by Deborah Beuerman.

Articles published recently announced that boys who would rather live as girls can now be included as members of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America.

A transgender girl—a boy who acts like a girl—who is treated as a girl by his family will be accepted as a “girl” by Girl Scouts. This is really not new news.  A 7-year old boy who had been living as a girl since he was 2 was allowed to join a troop in 2012.

Sadly, a policy of inclusion has been in place for many years, with the Girl Scout membership policy simply stating that Girl Scouts is open to all girls.  On the face this sounds good, but such a simple statement without more definition can be broadly interpreted, and can be the basis for removing guiding principles for the organization.  Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Low did want diversity in scouting, but the definition of her day was quite different from the “diversity and tolerance” of our day.  While she did not want to exclude any girl because of race, socioeconomic class, or disability, today’s idea of including generally is focused on sexuality.

(more…)

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